Thought for the Day ~ By Lisa Scott Life Coach

Don’t be a control freak…….there is nothing that is harder to live with or work with than a control freak, and left unchecked control has a profound impact on the lives of those it touches.  Control takes back the wheel when things aren’t going to their liking, never allowing anyone to experience the learning that comes with failure. Control not only wants to dictate the “what” but also the “how” even when the how isn’t in their wheelhouse.  When you need control of everything, you are giving into your fears and even though you may ask for help, you may find it hard to relinquish the wheel and let someone else drive.

An important part of anyone’s growth and maturity is learning how to respond to things when they don’t go your way, when you get a different result than the one you were hoping for…..and we teach our children and the people around us how to manage this tension by allowing them to experience the peaks and valleys of life.  If your need for control over-rides your common sense and the ability to let others take the wheel, if you get angry when people don’t do things the way you think they should, then it is time to acknowledge that you are a part of the problem.  When given room to breathe…..people generally bring their best selves to the task at hand.

Cheryl Richardson said “There are other consequences to attempting to do everything ourselves in an effort to maintain control.  We often wound our most important relationships.  We become critical and overbearing with loved ones, causing them to feel inadequate, frustrated, or incapable of handling even the simplest tasks.  Allowing others to help means learning to surrender to the reality that there will be mistakes made and that things will not always get done your way.  That’s how people learn and grow.  After all , think about how you came to handle what you do so well now.  Chances are you made plenty of mistakes along the way and had to find your own path, too.”